Africa Week in Review - January 31, 2014 Share This /

The U.S. carried out a drone strike in Somalia this week, and President Obama foreshadowed continued special operations in Africa. The U.S. intelligence community outlined their national security threat assessment on the continent and analysts predict the U.S. military presence will grow in Africa this year. Below is a roundup of the top articles and news highlights from around the region over the last week: 

• On Tuesday, President Obama held his annual State of the Union Address. Africa received only a passing mention. The President did not address current conflicts, or his plans for renewed diplomatic engagement. He did reiterate his plans to continue U.S. special operations in Africa, specifically in Somalia and Mali, to counter al-Qaeda:

While we have put al-Qaeda’s core leadership on a path to defeat, the threat has evolved, as al-Qaeda affiliates and other extremists take root in different parts of the world. In Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Mali, we have to keep working with partners to disrupt and disable these networks.

• The U.S. Senate Intelligence committee held its annual, declassified hearing on Current and Projected National Security Threats Against the United States. James R. Clapper (PDF), Director of National Intelligence, James B. Comey, Director of the FBI, and John O. Brennan, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, testified. Clapper presented the administration’s assessment of security issues in Africa. According to Clapper:
  • Eastern Africa (most notably Kenya and Somalia) and Niger and the Sahel region (namely Mali, Chad, Niger and Mauritania) are at risk for terrorist activity.
  • Nigeria and countries within the Sahel region will also be facing threats caused by economic and political frustration among their citizens.
  • Sudan, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo will continue to undergo ethnic and religious conflicts
• At the hearing, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) raised a question regarding the diffuse nature of al-Qaeda, and the threat it consequentially poses. While Director Clapper focused on the challenges this evolution creates for the intelligence community, Director Olsen evaluated the threat these groups pose to the U.S. According to Olsen, “a number of those actors have a largely local or regional agenda… they don’t necessarily pose a threat to us here at home.”
• Brookings security expert Michael O’Hanlon wrote a memorandum to President Obama calling for a surge in U.S. military training in Africa coordinated by U.S. AFRICOM. O’Hanlon identifies Mali, Somalia and ungoverned areas in the Sahel region of western and north-central Africa, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as being plagued by instability. According to O’Hanlon, DRC would be a great start for a “systematic effort by the United States . . . to strengthen and reform Congolese security forces.” 
• Stars and Stripes notes that President Obama, who just re-emphasized his hesitation to be “mired in open-ended conflict,” is unlikely to follow the recommendation. Thierry Vircoulon, the International Crisis Group’s director for Central Africa, dismissed O’Hanlon’s recommendation: “I believe that, unfortunately, the problems of Congo are not the type of problems that can be addressed by the U.S. Army.”

Quick hits across Africa:

• CBC reported that the U.S. is increasing its troop presence across Africa, with troops in thirty-eight out of the fifty-four African countries. U.S. troops are set to reach full brigade status this year, with 5,000 troops on the ground, which would have the capacity for hundreds of separate missions across Africa.
• Forty staffers with Africa responsibilities from across the U.S. government gathered at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies for The Introduction of African Security Issues (IASI) Seminar this week. Experts reportedly stressed the importance of nuance, understanding the local context and favoring long-term strategic engagement over quick fixes.
• The U.S. carried out a missile strike inside Somalia, which killed a high-ranking al-Shabab intelligence officer. The Somali government confirmed that they were pre-informed and believed the U.S. used a drone to fire the missile.
• U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel met with his French counterpart to discuss mutual interests in Africa and potential for cooperation and increased information sharing.
• U.S. Marine forces for Europe and Africa announced that they are sending 50 Marines to Uganda and Burundi for “train and equip” missions in late January, which will focus on logistics, engineering, medical services and marksmanship, among others.
• The U.S. announced the delegation that will travel to the African Union summit.
• Former president Jimmy Carter, who visited Khartoum on an official mission, invited Sudan’s opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi to come to the U.S. and discuss the potential of a political dialogue that would be sponsored by the United States.
• The crisis in Central African Republic continues to worsen. The U.S. condemned the renewed violence, and supported sanctions against those accountable for mass atrocities. The UN Security Council approved the use of force for a EU peacekeeping force.
• South Sudan’s ceasefire was broken less than 25 hours after it was signed last Friday, with atrocities reported. Warring parties accused each other, while thousands of civilians continue to flee South Sudan. South Sudan’s president released seven of the eleven political prisoners, and announced treason charges for the remaining four. The release of all prisoners is a primary demand of rebel forces in the negotiation process.
• The Somali president announced that the country’s military, together with the African Union peacekeeping missions, would launch operations targeting al-Shabab’s controlled areas. He also called on the UN Security Council to not restore the arms embargo, which was partially lifted, but is due to be reinstated in March.
• Boko Haram launched attacks this week on a village in Nigeria’s northern Borno state that killed large numbers of civilians. The U.S. condemned the attacks and reiterated the U.S. support for Nigeria’s war against violent extremism.
• According to Reuters, Guinea has become a narco-state, the second in Africa after its neighbor Guinea-Bissau. The article focuses on how the country has become a trade route for narcotics coming from Latin America and on the corrosive effects the drug trade has had on governance.
• The UN Security Council renewed the arms embargo, travel bans and asset freezes against armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and added sanctions against illegal wildlife traffickers, effectively raising this environmental issue to a security threat.